Russ contemplates the new demo...

Editor's Note: Here we present Russ Hunt's take on Vent 414's 1997 demos, including the talents of Malc Treece.

Hello Again,

I've been living with a tape of this stuff for 2 days now so I think I can kinda let you know what's happening. There are 7 songs..

..the first two are very much in the vein of "Easy To Talk", very bass driven with Pete doing almost dub reggae type rhythms. Miles voice verges on a pastiche of Mark E Smith in parts. The most surprising thing is the guitar parts, I always think Malcolm has a very identifiable style but unless you know it's him you'd never guess. For instance "How Long Was I Asleep ?" features a big fat guitar riff very reminiscent of "20th Century Boy", most un-Treece like.

"Feet To Fail On" almost hangs on one note and is quite leaden, almost like it wants to let go but is being held back by something. "Looking For Subtext" sounds like an idea that will blossom in time but is not quite the finished article yet. Inbetween spoken parts, over some slide guitar it repeats the same 4 lines over and over ("These are days, when no-one visits, The only moves are fidgits, And time is measured with a phone call after dark"). "We Are Happy" reminds me of Jawbox (if that means anything to anyone) with a chanted, rap type chorus.

The last two songs feature Mel Garside on vocals. "Vienese" was going to be an instumental until they got Miss Garside to add phoentic wailings over some huge metal-spacerock-freakout guitars. "You Shine A Light" features Mel Garside on backing vocals on a track built round a loop of some of Pete's playing and a drum machine.

Miles stresses that these are only rough demo's, more for their own benefit than anything else. Things could change quite drastically between now and these songs ever getting a release. Doesn't alter the fact that "How Long Was I Asleep ?" & "Call Me When You Get Some News" are great songs and "Vienese" & "You Shine A Light" will turn a few heads. I hope you found this interesting.

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